Domaine du Pegau

Two thousand eight was the latest harvest of the decade here, according to Laurence Feraud, "and that was good because we needed the maturity after the lousy beginning of September. If you didn't allow your grapes to build up sugar and lose some of the shrill acidity then your wines turned out green and hard, with little fruit." The Ferauds began the 2008 harvest on September 28t and finished during the second week of October. "During the days the temperature went up to 25 degrees [centigrade] and the nights were around 10 degrees and it was dry, so we got a steady increase in ripeness," Laurence noted. Paul Feraud describes 2007 as "a unique vintage, without precedent. The wines seem sweet but they are actually quite dry. The Capo, for instance, is incredibly rich but it has less than 3 grams of sugar." Added Laurence: "It's a fantastic vintage for drinking soon but the wines also have great concentration; the only question is their structure." She also advised drinking the 2006s on the young side "because they are all about fruit," and said that the 2005s are way too tannic to approach any time soon. "We left them in barrel for two years and the tannins never softened," she told me. "The Cuvee Laurence got four years of elevage and it is still an animal." (Hand Picked Selections, Warrenton, VA; J et R Selections, Mt. Pleasant, MI; Martine's Wines, Novato, CA)